4 ms·

I agree. I own a pine phone. It's all but un-useable in any meaningful sense of the word. I own a brick and motor and have just been mandated by the government

I agree. I own a pine phone. It's all but un-useable in any meaningful sense of the word. I own a brick and motor and have just been mandated by the government to run their version of the vaccine passport app. It's android OR ios. What choices do I have here?

ArnoVW 5y ago
Not really your question I think, but, what country do you live? You are mandated an app? That's crazy?! What about people that don't have a phone? Or a 'dumb'-phone? Where I live any valid QR code works, be it paper or even just a picture of the paper. No need to use an app.
- yosamino 5y ago
  You need the app to verify the the information that is encoded in the QR code. This small business is not allowed to let customers enter the shop if they can't validate their vaccination status. To do this one needs a QR code reader on a phone. Practically speaking there are no alternatives.
  - PeterisP 5y ago
    Well, business is different; you don't have to use your phone for that, you can use a separate smart device (which may be a non-phone like tablets or perhaps iPod might work) just for this purpose; and, unlike consumers, there's generally no taboo in requiring businesses to fulfill requirements which may need extra hardware that they don't yet have and need to purchase, or require them to change their buildings, etc, so saying "your business needs to run this app" does not imply "my phone needs to be iOS or Android" as there's zero expectation that your personal phone should be sufficient for that requirement imposed on the company. Also, they're not saying that your business needs to run this app, they are saying that your business needs to verify Covid certificates and offering these apps as one way to do it. But it's not the only way - for example, it may be less convenient, but you can do that QR code scanning + Covid certificate validation on any computer with a connected camera using a web service (https://app.digitalcovidcertchecker.gov.ie/ https://app.digitalcovidcertchecker.gov.ie/ is one random example, there is also open source code to roll your own checks for EU Covid certificates in some custom system if you need to), and there you can use Windows or Linux or whatever, there's no need for a smartphone as such. In fact, if the parent poster's Pinephone can run a browser and expose a camera to it, then perhaps it might work out of the box on the Pinephone without needing a special app.
Ragnarork 5y ago
I'm sorry, I don't know what to tell you (although your question sounds a bit rhetorical), and that's part of the problem in my opinion. It's so ubiquitous now that even if you want to get out of this duopoly, you can't really.

ArnoVW 5y ago

Not really your question I think, but, what country do you live? You are mandated an app? That's crazy?! What about people that don't have a phone? Or a 'dumb'-phone? Where I live any valid QR code works, be it paper or even just a picture of the paper. No need to use an app.

yosamino 5y ago
You need the app to verify the the information that is encoded in the QR code. This small business is not allowed to let customers enter the shop if they can't validate their vaccination status. To do this one needs a QR code reader on a phone. Practically speaking there are no alternatives.
- PeterisP 5y ago
  Well, business is different; you don't have to use your phone for that, you can use a separate smart device (which may be a non-phone like tablets or perhaps iPod might work) just for this purpose; and, unlike consumers, there's generally no taboo in requiring businesses to fulfill requirements which may need extra hardware that they don't yet have and need to purchase, or require them to change their buildings, etc, so saying "your business needs to run this app" does not imply "my phone needs to be iOS or Android" as there's zero expectation that your personal phone should be sufficient for that requirement imposed on the company. Also, they're not saying that your business needs to run this app, they are saying that your business needs to verify Covid certificates and offering these apps as one way to do it. But it's not the only way - for example, it may be less convenient, but you can do that QR code scanning + Covid certificate validation on any computer with a connected camera using a web service (https://app.digitalcovidcertchecker.gov.ie/ https://app.digitalcovidcertchecker.gov.ie/ is one random example, there is also open source code to roll your own checks for EU Covid certificates in some custom system if you need to), and there you can use Windows or Linux or whatever, there's no need for a smartphone as such. In fact, if the parent poster's Pinephone can run a browser and expose a camera to it, then perhaps it might work out of the box on the Pinephone without needing a special app.

Ragnarork 5y ago

I'm sorry, I don't know what to tell you (although your question sounds a bit rhetorical), and that's part of the problem in my opinion. It's so ubiquitous now that even if you want to get out of this duopoly, you can't really.